Knowledge, attitudes, practices and fear of COVID‐19 among Iranians: A quick online survey

Abstract

To control COVID‐19, several strategies were proposed in Iran since the start of the outbreak. The number of reported infected people and its consequent death toll herald relative inadequacies in the quality and extent of the measures in curbing the COVID‐19 transmission cycle. This study was conducted to investigate knowledge, attitude, precautionary practices and degree of fear related to COVID‐19 in a sample of Iranian population. This study was conducted among 457 residents of Kurdistan Province, Iran, through social networks and social media (WhatsApp and Telegram). Knowledge, attitude and practice and fear of COVID‐19 were collected using valid tools. Multiple logistic regression and multivariate linear regression analyses were used to identify factors associated with binary outcome attitudes, practices and continuous variables knowledge and fear of COVID‐19, respectively. The mean (SD) age of participants was 37.86 (10.42); of them, 252 (55.1%) were men, and more than two‐thirds were married (74.8%). About 10% of the respondents were in believed that COVID‐19 could create a type of social stigma. Level of knowledge about COVID‐19 in 77.8% of the study attendees was acceptable, and 352 of them (70%) were confident that the virus would eventually be successfully controlled in the world, but only 252 of the attendants (50%) had confidence about successful control of COVID‐19 in Iran. Applying multiple logistic regression, knowledge (OR: 1.18, p = 0.028) and fear (OR: 1.04, p = 0.028) of COVID‐19 were associated with positive attitude towards controllability of COVID‐19. Gender (OR: 1.96, p = 0.012), sources of information (OR: 5.00, p = 0.005) and knowledge (OR: 1.27, p = 0.006) were also indicated association with taking precautionary practices to control COVID‐19. Further studies are recommended to boost level of knowledge, strengthen positive attitude and ameliorate behavioural pattern for successful control of COVID‐19 in Iran.

Gender and COVID-19 related fear and anxiety: A meta-analysis

“… Turkey Europe Medical 47.39 Collectivism Elsayed and Ghazi, 2021 275 6.5 Egypt Middle East Healthcare students N.A. Collectivism Ghaderi et al, 2021 457 4.5 Iran Middle East General population 37.86 Collectivism Grande and Doyle-Baker, 2021 680 13.5 Canada North America University students 23 Individualism Green et al, 2021 608 9 Pakistan Asia University students 24.76 Collectivism Gélinas et al, 2021 1517 N.A. Canada North America Hospital staff 41.11 Individualism Jafari-Oori et al, 2021 350 N.A.…”

“…In addition, studies conducted in Europe, female's COVID-19 related fear and anxiety levels were higher ( Bakioğlu et al, 2020 ; Kaçoğlu et al, 2021 ; Morales-Rodríguez, 2021 ; Orrù et al, 2021 ; Tsipropoulou et al, 2020 ; Ypsilanti et al, 2021 ). On the other hand, some studies conducted in Middle East countries showed that males had higher levels of COVID-19 related fear and anxiety than females ( Abdelgwad and Abdelaziz, 2021 ; Alnazly et al, 2021 ; Ashoor et al, 2021 ; Ghaderi et al, 2021 ; Saravanan et al, 2020 ). These studies revealed inconsistent findings regarding gender differences in COVID-19 related fear and anxiety across different continents.…”

“…On the other hand, some studies showed that males have higher COVID-19 anxiety levels ( Ashoor et al, 2021 ; Curtis et al, 2021 ; Saravanan et al, 2020 ; Srivastava et al, 2020 ). Also, many studies revealed males have higher fear of COVID-19 levels than females ( Abdelgwad and Abdelaziz, 2021 ; Alnazly et al, 2021 ; Ghaderi et al, 2021 ; Osagiator Ariyo et al, 2021 ). In addition, Parlak and Akgün Şahin (2021) and Wakashima et al (2020) found no gender difference in COVID-19 related fear and anxiety.…”

Health literacy and fear among Iranian medical students due to COVID‐19: An observational study

“…One such negative emotion that has been highly associated with the current COVID‐19 is the high amount of fear (Ahorsu et al., 2020b ; Taghrir et al., 2020 ). There is ample evidence about the impact of fear on quality of life and mental health (Al Falasi & Ab Khan, 2020 ; Ghaderi et al., 2021 ). Medical students are often found resilient; however, they are not immune to such fears.…”

Peak months of pandemic’s first-wave in India: a cross-sectional assessment of knowledge, attitudes and practice towards COVID-19 among internet-savvy individuals

“…Positive attitudes towards following physical distancing, taking precautionary measures against community spread, and relying on science-driven evidence help people resist false propaganda or misinformation during this unprecedented time. Appropriate practicing of preventive tactics and accepting local behavioral recommendations may substantially assist the globally synchronized mitigation efforts [11].…”